Fretwell's rubber tape
 

OK, finally had an opportunity to try some of his magic tape. I had a landscaping light that was out, and I thought it was just the bulb. Opened it up, and it was a third full of dirt and moisture. Ants had tunneled up into the enclosure and made a home there. I had a new replacement fixture, so I cut the wires, spliced and soldered in the new one, and got a roll of the tape.

What a pain in the ass! The stuff has a separating layer which is a thin piece of white plastic that must be peeled off before using. That was the first challenge. Then it has to be stretched to 2/3rds of its width and overlapped by 1/2 while wrapping. Easier said than done when working with small gauge wires.

In the end I got the splices wrapped, and now it will be interesting how well it holds up to outdoor, exposed use. Interesting stuff. Thanks, Greg.

Fretwell's rubber tape
 

On Sat, 21 Mar 2020 12:30:32 -0700 (PDT), Its Me wrote:

OK, finally had an opportunity to try some of his magic tape. I had a landscaping light that was out, and I thought it was just the bulb. Opened it up, and it was a third full of dirt and moisture. Ants had tunneled up into the enclosure and made a home there. I had a new replacement fixture, so I cut the wires, spliced and soldered in the new one, and got a roll of the tape.

What a pain in the ass! The stuff has a separating layer which is a thin piece of white plastic that must be peeled off before using. That was the first challenge. Then it has to be stretched to 2/3rds of its width and overlapped by 1/2 while wrapping. Easier said than done when working with small gauge wires.

In the end I got the splices wrapped, and now it will be interesting how well it holds up to outdoor, exposed use. Interesting stuff. Thanks, Greg.


Thanks. I've not used mine yet. Didn't know about the '2/3rds thing'. Guess I'll
have to read some directions.
--

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Fretwell's rubber tape
 

On Sat, 21 Mar 2020 12:30:32 -0700 (PDT), Its Me
wrote:

OK, finally had an opportunity to try some of his magic tape. I had a landscaping light that was out, and I thought it was just the bulb. Opened it up, and it was a third full of dirt and moisture. Ants had tunneled up into the enclosure and made a home there. I had a new replacement fixture, so I cut the wires, spliced and soldered in the new one, and got a roll of the tape.

What a pain in the ass! The stuff has a separating layer which is a thin piece of white plastic that must be peeled off before using. That was the first challenge. Then it has to be stretched to 2/3rds of its width and overlapped by 1/2 while wrapping. Easier said than done when working with small gauge wires.

In the end I got the splices wrapped, and now it will be interesting how well it holds up to outdoor, exposed use. Interesting stuff. Thanks, Greg.

This stuff was really designed for medium voltage connections,
typically 2ga or larger. I doubt it is appropriate for lamp wire. O
would shrink tube that.

Fretwell's rubber tape
 

On Saturday, March 21, 2020 at 8:04:43 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Sat, 21 Mar 2020 12:30:32 -0700 (PDT), Its Me
wrote:

OK, finally had an opportunity to try some of his magic tape. I had a landscaping light that was out, and I thought it was just the bulb. Opened it up, and it was a third full of dirt and moisture. Ants had tunneled up into the enclosure and made a home there. I had a new replacement fixture, so I cut the wires, spliced and soldered in the new one, and got a roll of the tape.

What a pain in the ass! The stuff has a separating layer which is a thin piece of white plastic that must be peeled off before using. That was the first challenge. Then it has to be stretched to 2/3rds of its width and overlapped by 1/2 while wrapping. Easier said than done when working with small gauge wires.

In the end I got the splices wrapped, and now it will be interesting how well it holds up to outdoor, exposed use. Interesting stuff. Thanks, Greg.

This stuff was really designed for medium voltage connections,
typically 2ga or larger. I doubt it is appropriate for lamp wire. O
would shrink tube that.

Yeah, it's just an opportunity to use it somewhere, and I certainly won't have a chance to use it on 2ga anytime soon. A year from now we'll see what it looks like.

Fretwell's rubber tape
 

On Sat, 21 Mar 2020 12:30:32 -0700 (PDT), Its Me
wrote:

OK, finally had an opportunity to try some of his magic tape. I had a landscaping light that was out, and I thought it was just the bulb. Opened it up, and it was a third full of dirt and moisture. Ants had tunneled up into the enclosure and made a home there. I had a new replacement fixture, so I cut the wires, spliced and soldered in the new one, and got a roll of the tape.

What a pain in the ass! The stuff has a separating layer which is a thin piece of white plastic that must be peeled off before using. That was the first challenge. Then it has to be stretched to 2/3rds of its width and overlapped by 1/2 while wrapping. Easier said than done when working with small gauge wires.

In the end I got the splices wrapped, and now it will be interesting how well it holds up to outdoor, exposed use. Interesting stuff. Thanks, Greg.

===

I can tell you from experience that it degrades outdoors when exposed
to the UV rays in sunlight. I recommend an inner layer of Greg's tape
to seal out moisture and then an outer layer of PVC tape to block the
UV. I've been using similar products on boats for many years and that
is what has worked best for me.


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Fretwell's rubber tape
 

wrote:
On Sat, 21 Mar 2020 12:30:32 -0700 (PDT), Its Me
wrote:

OK, finally had an opportunity to try some of his magic tape. I had a
landscaping light that was out, and I thought it was just the bulb.
Opened it up, and it was a third full of dirt and moisture. Ants had
tunneled up into the enclosure and made a home there. I had a new
replacement fixture, so I cut the wires, spliced and soldered in the new
one, and got a roll of the tape.

What a pain in the ass! The stuff has a separating layer which is a
thin piece of white plastic that must be peeled off before using. That
was the first challenge. Then it has to be stretched to 2/3rds of its
width and overlapped by 1/2 while wrapping. Easier said than done when
working with small gauge wires.

In the end I got the splices wrapped, and now it will be interesting how
well it holds up to outdoor, exposed use. Interesting stuff. Thanks, Greg.

===

I can tell you from experience that it degrades outdoors when exposed
to the UV rays in sunlight. I recommend an inner layer of Greg's tape
to seal out moisture and then an outer layer of PVC tape to block the
UV. I've been using similar products on boats for many years and that
is what has worked best for me.



And if you take PVC pipe glue to the PVC tape, will be totally waterproof.

Fretwell's rubber tape
 

On Sunday, March 22, 2020 at 12:28:54 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Sat, 21 Mar 2020 12:30:32 -0700 (PDT), Its Me
wrote:

OK, finally had an opportunity to try some of his magic tape. I had a landscaping light that was out, and I thought it was just the bulb. Opened it up, and it was a third full of dirt and moisture. Ants had tunneled up into the enclosure and made a home there. I had a new replacement fixture, so I cut the wires, spliced and soldered in the new one, and got a roll of the tape.

What a pain in the ass! The stuff has a separating layer which is a thin piece of white plastic that must be peeled off before using. That was the first challenge. Then it has to be stretched to 2/3rds of its width and overlapped by 1/2 while wrapping. Easier said than done when working with small gauge wires.

In the end I got the splices wrapped, and now it will be interesting how well it holds up to outdoor, exposed use. Interesting stuff. Thanks, Greg.

===

I can tell you from experience that it degrades outdoors when exposed
to the UV rays in sunlight. I recommend an inner layer of Greg's tape
to seal out moisture and then an outer layer of PVC tape to block the
UV. I've been using similar products on boats for many years and that
is what has worked best for me.

I suspected as much. Next time I think about it i'll give it a quick wrap of the usual stuff. It's not a mission critical splice. It just lights up one of the big oaks in the back yard.